Elliot Lake mall inspection reports warned of corrosive damage

A worker is seen in the rubble at the Algo Centre Mall in Elliot Lake, Ont., June 27, 2012. Rescue workers removed two bodies from a collapsed shopping mall in the northern Ontario town of Elliot Lake. (Reuters/Nathan Denette/Pool)

Jordan Allard, QMI Agency

ELLIOT LAKE, Ont. – Corrosion and leakage were not hard to find when Trow Engineering inspected the Algo Centre Mall in the 1990s.

Domenic Dell'Aquilla, a certified engineering technologist with Trow, reviewed the mall in 1991 and 1994 after Algoma Central Properties (ACP) requested a closer look at the leaky shopping centre.

Dell'Aquilla testified during the Elliot Lake Inquiry on Wednesday that he examined the condition of the parking deck and steel beams throughout the building during inspections for two reports penned by Trow.

Both times Dell'Aquilla found rampant rusting and excessive leaking.

In both its 1991 and 1994 reports, Trow said the mall was structurally sound, but cautioned the structural integrity of the building could be affected if no solution for the leaky roof was found.

Trow’s report from 1991 describes the rooftop parking lot as inappropriate and incapable of functioning properly in its current state.

The engineering firm recommended removing the concrete over top of the coreslab and covering the area beneath the rooftop parking lot with a waterproofing membrane.